Privet Drive
Harry Potter was sitting on his bed, anxiously watching his bedroom window for any signs of his owl Hedwig.
Earlier he had gotten a letter from Hermione where she, as usual, has written more of an essay than letter.
She told him of a potential friend she might have made and then went on to describe how she met her and the conversation they had.
All through the letter Harry had to hold back the grin that wanted to take over his face.
Sometimes Hermione could be so girly and child like. If she gets very excited about things. Harry liked this side of her.
He would admit that he had sided with Ron for the better part of their first year and beginning of their second, on Hermione being really snobby and boring and bossy. In doing that he never really took a chance to get to know his female friend better.
He would never forget the moment he had decided to re evaluate his behaviour towards Hermione.
Harry was roaming the castle one night. He couldn't sleep and decided to walk around the castle under his invisibility cloak. Ron was still in a deep sleep but he decided not to wake him. As he walk along the corridors, passing sleeping portraits and gliding ghosts, he found that his feet had a mind of it's own because it was leading him down a corridor he had never been in. He frowned deeply when he came to a stop in front of double doors. For a moment he had just stood there silently. Then he shook his head and decided to leave. He didn't want to get into trouble tonight. He had scarcely walked five feet when he heard it.
Crying. A girl crying
For a moment he didn't know what to do. Should he just leave as if he never heard anything or should he go see if the girl was okay? If he left without knowing he know he'd feel guilty about it later on.
So he decided to see if the girl was okay.
The crying had come from behind those double doors. Taking a deep breath Harry opened the door as silently as he could. It seemed to have worked though because there was no sudden yell and he could still hear the crying.
He tip toed his way further in. It was when he rounded the corner, that his whole world stopped.
On the ground sitting against the cold wall was Hermione.
"Hermione?" Harry questions shocked.
Hermione's head shot up in record speed. When brown eyes met green, no one knew who was more shocked.
"Harry! What are you doing here? Your not suppose to be here! " Hermione yelled while frantically trying to wipe her tears away.
"What...but...you're...you...your...crying" Harry was beyond confused and feeling out of place.
"No I'm not. Go away Harry. Just leave and pretend you never saw me here" Hermione cried
Harry just stood rooted to the spot. For a second he thought about leaving and doing what she just asked of him. His left foot had even turned a bit sub consciously.
That little movement however didn't go unnoticed by Hermione.
She hardened her facial expression.
"I knew you'd leave. It's easy to take the easy way out isn't it Harry. You and Ronald seem to perfect that" her comment was scathing and cold.
"What?! What does that suppose to mean?" He asks accusingly.
"Nothing Harry. I think it'd just be better if you leave" her voice had sounded so broken and defeated that it struck any angry words Harry wanted to say dead.
"Hermione..." Harry began softly.
Hermione looked up at him with tears in her eyes. He could see she must have been crying for a while because her eyes were very red and swollen.
"It's okay. You don't need to say anything."
Harry walked closer until he stood an arms length away from her.
"How long have you been crying?"
"Does it matter?"
He just stared pointedly at her.
"A while. After I left dinner" she sigh tiredly.
"Why? Why are you crying? Did Draco say something to you? Was it some other Slytherin? And why didn't you come to me?"
"No it was not Draco or some other Slytherin"
"Then who else"
Hermione fell silent again. She was silent for so long that Harry started feeling uncomfortable. But eventually she answered.
It was not an answered he expected.
"It's because of you..."
Harry was stunned.
"Me? What did I do?"
"It's what you don't do Harry."
"I don't understand"
"You really don't?" She asks sadly.
"No I'm sorry. I'm not very good with feelings and emotions so I don't know what I did wrong"
"You always take his side. No matter what. It's always Ron. Even when we argue and its as clear as day that I'm right you still choose his side. You still see me as annoying and boring. You'd rather hang out with Ron than me. I thought you'd be different. I don't expect Ron to ever understand because he's just a git. It hurts when Ron says something mean and you choose to ignore it or sometimes even agree with him. You say I'm your friend too but most of the time I feel like a fifth feel in the group."
This confession totally bowled Harry over. He had never ever considered this.
And now all he feels is like a complete moron.
He remembered the rest of the conversation and how in the end he was the one to hug her and comfort her, while promising to be a better friend and not to choose Ron's side so easily. He admitted that he didn't always agree with Ron on the things he said but it didn't matter because he chose to ignore it and not defend Hermione.
He apologized and Hermione had accepted it.
Ever since then he kept his promise and he found that the more time he spent with Hermione the more he started liking her more than Ron.
When it was just them he noticed she was much more relaxed and even slacking on the homework front. She never pressured him to study harder. On the contrary she became more rule breaking than him almost!.
He shared things from his past and home life with her that nobody else knew. Not even Ron or Dumbledore. And she in turn shared things with him.
Now they are best friends in the whole meaning of the word.
A movement outside his window caught his eye and he smiled when he saw it was Hedwig returning with Hermione's letter.
Once Hedwig had landed on his bed side table he took of the letter and put it aside. He gently stroked her feathers and offered some bacon strips which Hedwig eagerly accepted.
"Thank you girl. You can go and rest a bit if you want. I'm still going to be a while"
Hedwig nibbled on his finger to show him she understood and then proceeded to fold in her wings and take a nap.
Smiling softly at his wonderful bird, he picked up Hermione's letter and started to read.
Deciding to write a return letter now was probably for the best as Harry had some good news of his own that he wanted to share.
